The BBC reports on a Diamond star some 50 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus. The huge cosmic diamond – technically known as BPM 37093 – is actually a crystallised white dwarf. Informally the astronomers have been calling it “Lucy.”

All of the heat and pressure of the death of this star has literally turned its carbon core into a massive diamond.

Via August Pollak, a New York Times article on why Saddam has become a martyr throughout the Sunni world.

No one of any significance was a fan of Saddam Hussein prior to his hanging. Even his Ba’athist party members knew what a thorough bastard he and his sons were. He murdered the husbands of his daughters. If he had bitten the heads off of kittens no one would have been surprised. There isn’t a public relations professional in the world that would have expected to be able to rehabilitate his image as a murderous thug.

Fubar offers Ten tips on how NOT to turn a monster into a martyr which these people should keep on file in case Osama bin Laden misses a bribe payment and is “captured.”

Lots of people moving around:

State Department:

John Negroponte moves from Director of National Intelligence to Deputy Secretary of State.
Zalmay Khalilzad moves from Ambassador to Iraq to United Nations Ambassador.
Ryan Crocker, a career foreign service office, becomes Ambassador to Iraq.

These are positive developments for the State Department, because these are competent people, even if Negroponte should probably be investigated as a war criminal for his activities in Central America.

Defense Department:

Richard Lawless, a former CIA expert, is becoming Assistant Secretary for Asia.
Jim Shinn, CIA NIO for Asia, is becoming Lawless’ principal deputy.
James Clapper, former mapping agency and DIA head, is becoming Undersecretary Of Defense For Intelligence.
Lieutenant General David Petraeus will replace General George Casey as top ground commander in Iraq.
Admiral William Fallon will replace General John Abizaid as Command of Central Command.

The civilian changes are good news, reflecting a move on the part of Gates to hire competent people, but the military moves are problematic.

Petraeus was effective in the area of Mosul during his first tour in Iraq as commander of the 101^st. Unfortunately too much has happened since his successful start to make his tactics successful now. There are too many bodies and too much spilled blood.

Casey was given the command because he fell in behind the policies of Rumsfeld. When Rumsfeld became a liability, so did Casey.

Pat Lang is really suspicious of the appointment of Admiral William Fallon to Centcom, and I hope Pat’s wrong, or someone puts the brakes on these fools.

In addition to Pat at Sic Semper Tyrannis, you should be reading Laura Rozen at War and Piece, Juan Cole at Informed Comment, and the crowd at Needlenose for more commentary.

While many of the changes are welcome, they would have been much better back in 2003 when there was a chance of salvaging Iraq.

Today marks the Feast of the Epiphany, end of the twelve days of Christmas, and Día de los Reyes in Spanish-speaking countries.

The is the customary day for gift exchanges in many Christian cultures.